Top 27 Philippe Halsman Quotes
#1. There is one and the same soul in many bodies.
Plotinus
#2. No photographer should be blamed when, instead of capturing reality, he tries to show things he has seen only in his imagination. Photography is the youngest art form. All attempts to enlarge its frontiers are important and should be encouraged.
Philippe Halsman
#3. I drifted into photography like one drifts into prostitution. First I did it to please myself, then I did it to please my friends, and eventually I did it for the money.
Philippe Halsman
#5. This fascination with the human face has never left me ... Every face I see seems to hide and sometimes, fleetingly, to reveal the mystery of another human being ... Capturing this revelation became the goal and passion of my life.
Philippe Halsman
#6. The immortal photographers will be straightforward photographers, those who do not rely on tricks or special techniques.
Philippe Halsman
#7. A true portrait should, today and a hundred years from today, the Testimony of how this person looked and what kind of human being he was.
Philippe Halsman
#8. In my serious work I am striving for the essence of things and for goals which are possibly unobtainable. On the other hand, everything humorous has great attraction for me, and a childish streak leads me into all kinds of frivolous endeavour.
Philippe Halsman
#9. Of the thousands of people, celebrated and unknown, who have sat before my camera, I am often asked who was the most difficult subject, or the easiest, or which picture is my favorite. This last question is like asking a mother which child she likes the most.
Philippe Halsman
#11. In a jump, the subject, in a sudden burst of energy, overcomes gravity. He cannot simultaneously control his expressions, his facial and his limb muscles. The mask falls. The real self becomes visible. One only has to snap it with the camera.
Philippe Halsman
#12. When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.
Philippe Halsman
#13. It appears that PepsiCo views structural change as a sign of weakness, an admission of failure, and an untenable break with past traditions.
Nelson Peltz
#14. A good portrait is incredibly hard to create, there is too much temptation to pander to the individual rather than portray them as they really were
Philippe Halsman
#16. All moral relationships are indissoluble according to their concept, as one can easily convince one's self by postulating their truth. A true state, a true marriage, a true friendship, and indissoluble. But no state, no marriage, no friendship corresponds completely to its concept... (Karl Marx)
Eugene Kamenka
#17. Herein lies the main objective of portraiture and also its main difficulty. The photographer probes for the innermost. The lens sees only the surface ...
Philippe Halsman
#18. Not every door you opened will bring you light; some will bring you storms and darkness; you must be strong enough to push the door back and close it!
Mehmet Murat Ildan
#19. I know of few actresses who have this incredible talent for communicating with a camera lens. She would try to seduce a camera as if it were a human being.
Philippe Halsman
#20. [Revealing character] can't be done by pushing the person into position or arranging his head at a certain angle. It must be accomplished by provoking the victim, amusing him with jokes, lulling him with silence, or asking impertinent questions which his best friend would be afraid to voice.
Philippe Halsman
#21. Most people stiffen with self-consciousness when they pose for a photograph. Lighting and fine camera equipment are useless if the photographer cannot make them drop the mask, at least for a moment, so he can capture on his film their real, undistorted personality and character.
Philippe Halsman
#22. I make the woman look at the camera as a symbol of all the eyes that will see the picture I am making.
Philippe Halsman
#24. The word "photography" can be interpreted as "writing with light" or "drawing with light." Some photographers are producing beautiful photographs by drawing with light.. Some other photographers are trying to tell something with their photographs. They are writing with light ...
Philippe Halsman
#25. For an artist to go and play in a country that occupies other people's land and oppresses them, the way Israel does, is plain wrong. They should say no.
Roger Waters
#26. The head of the photographer is more important than his camera
Philippe Halsman
#27. Dali likes me taking his picture because he is interested in pictures that do not simply reproduce reality. Even in photos he prefers to appear outside reality .That is surrealistic!
Philippe Halsman
